DCA Members Making It Home: Shared Responsibility for Work‑Zone Safety

Every morning on Delaware’s roads, thousands of men and women gear up for work. They drive to job sites, strap on high‑visibility vests, set up traffic control devices, and work near active lanes of traffic. Their goal is simple: build and maintain the infrastructure that keeps Delaware moving — and make it home at the end of the day.

Work‑zone safety is not an abstract compliance topic for the Delaware Contractors Association (DCA) and its members. It is a daily reality. Our workers operate inches from moving vehicles, in unpredictable environments where one moment of distraction or one aggressive driver can change a life forever. And while we continue to see improvement in safety technologies and practices, the truth remains: too many roadway workers nationwide and here in Delaware never make it home.

A National View:

Across the United States, more than 800 people are killed each year in roadway work‑zone crashes. Hundreds of those deaths involve drivers and passengers, but a significant share involves workers on foot — people simply doing their jobs. National safety advocates emphasize one essential point: traffic deaths are not inevitable. Vision Zero, a movement embraced in cities across the country, centers on a simple but urgent belief — no one should be killed or seriously injured on our roads.

Delaware’s Reality: Facts, Figures & Focus

In Delaware, we’ve made strides, but the work continues. Over the past three years, our state has recorded 22 lives lost involving the traveling public in work zones, along with dozens of injuries — including more than a dozen severe injuries to workers. These are not just numbers. These are Delaware workers with names and families, and each incident leaves ripples across job sites and communities.

DelDOT and the Delaware Office of Highway Safety continue to highlight this issue through public campaigns like Be DelAWARE and Respect the Zone. Their message is direct and personal: “Respect the zone so we all get home.” It’s a reminder that behind every orange cone is a worker — someone whose life could be altered in an instant by a speeding or distracted driver. Here is a video from their Ambassadors of Safety Program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFwx5P9S3XU

What’s Changing: Automated Enforcement & Program Updates

One of the most meaningful advancements in Delaware’s work‑zone safety landscape is the expansion of automated speed enforcement. Delaware’s electronic work‑zone speed safety program launched first with a warning phase, followed by full enforcement. Drivers traveling 12 mph or more above the posted work‑zone speed limit can now receive citations — a strong deterrent to dangerous speeding behavior. Learn more about Delaware’s work in this space here: https://deldot.gov/Programs/DSHSP/index.shtml?dc=project-speeding-safety-program

This change matters. Automated enforcement saves lives. Studies and early program results nationwide show that consistent enforcement slows vehicles and changes behavior — particularly when workers are present and most vulnerable. Delaware continues to refine and strengthen this program, and contractors should expect further evolution as state and federal safety priorities expand.

The federal government has also strengthened work‑zone rules and standards. Updates to the Work Zone Safety and Mobility Rule and Temporary Traffic Control Devices Rule stress safer design, better warning systems, and improved separation between workers and traffic. Our parent organization, AGC, is leading the fight at the Federal level to include support for work zone speed enforcement in appropriations bills and to oppose efforts to ban these types of safety devices.

DCA Member Checklist Items

Members of DCA already embrace a culture of safety. But work‑zone safety requires relentless commitment. Every project, every shift, every setup. Consider the following priorities for your teams:

• Reinforce speed messaging — remind workers and the public that speed enforcement is real in Delaware work zones. 

• Audit traffic‑control setups — ensure cones, barrels, signs, crash trucks, and lighting are optimized and checked daily. 

• Humanize safety — remind your teams and the public who are behind the vest. Real faces change behavior. 

• Coordinate with DelDOT and law enforcement — flag high‑risk work‑zone behaviors you see in the field. 

• Build incident‑learning systems — near‑miss reporting saves lives when acted upon. 

For DCA, work‑zone safety is not only about rules; it is about vigilance, safety culture, and continuous improvement. Let’s ensure every worker in the right‑of‑way returns home. Let’s ensure every motorist passes safely. Let’s keep building Delaware — without losing lives in the process.